2009 racial profiling report released from county

by Audrie PalmerMidland Reporter-Telegram

Published 6:00 pm, Sunday, March 7, 2010

Almost half of the 6,342 individuals stopped for either a moving, non-moving or pedestrian violation were white and non-Hispanic, according to the Midland County Sheriff's Office 2009 racial profiling report.

The report, presented Monday morning to the county commissioners, shows a slight increase in this year's number of stops compared to last year's, Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter said.

While more whites and non-Hispanics were stopped for moving violations and as pedestrians, two more Hispanics were stopped last year for non-moving violations than whites.

Moving violations are those that involve any traffic incident and where drivers or individuals are stopped speeding or driving without a license. Non-moving violations are those that are non-traffic related like where a person or people are stopped on the side of the road or parked.

Pedestrian stops are where an officer encounters an individual who is traveling on foot, authorities said.

More than half of those who were cited or given a verbal warning, regardless of race, were male, the report also stated.

A 2000 census reports the racial make-up of Midland County then was comprised of 62 percent white, 29 percent Hispanic, 6.8 percent black and .9 percent Asian, but those numbers are expected to change this year when the new census is taken, authorities said.

The Sheriff's Office report was compiled by all patrol deputies who at the end of each of their shifts wrote down every stop and kept a record of each person and their race.

In the past four or five years that the sheriff's office has been compiling the report, Painter said his office has only received one complaint so far that he can recall related to the reports drawn up by the agency.

"We're required by state law to report on everything we do," he said. "There are some ACLU lawyers in the Texas Legislature that have forced law enforcement agencies across the state of Texas to do this."

The report was filed with the county clerk's office and is available for public viewing.